The present invention relates to the field of electronic communications technologies, and in particular, to a fan.

As the ICT (Information and Communications Technology, information and communications technology) industry continuously develops, performance such as a capacity and density of a product such as a router, a switch, or a server is continuously improved, and power of an entire device is continuously increasing. To meet a requirement of a large air volume for dissipating heat for a core component in the entire device, a fan speed is accordingly improved. In this way, noise generated by a fan becomes relatively large and a noise problem of the entire system is increasingly severe. Therefore, seeking a measure for effectively reducing the noise of the fan is one of urgent to-be-resolved problems in sustained development of the entire device in future.

US 2005/0281665 A1 discloses a housing for an axial flow heat-dissipating fan including an annular wall including an air inlet in a first end thereof and an air outlet in a second end thereof.

US 2008/0259564 A1 discloses an axial fan apparatus including an axial-flow impeller, a drive unit, and a housing.

GB 1 514 584 A discloses a useful means to reduce noise produced by axial-flow fans used in air cooling heat exchangers, ventilators, cooling towers and so forth.

US 3,947,148 discloses a fan assembly including a duct in which an axial flow fan is mounted.

US 2012/0027577 A1 discloses an axial fan including an impeller and a housing including a side wall surrounding an outer circumference of the impeller.

US 5 297 617 A discloses a fan according to the preamble of claim 1.

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a fan, so as to decrease noise generated by the fan when the fan runs.

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides an embodiment of a fan for dissipating heat from an electronic component, where the fan includes a casing duct, a motor, and multiple fan blades that are assembled on a rotor of the motor, where the casing duct includes a side wall that is disposed around the multiple fan blades, and a support frame that is connected to an end of the side wall and located on an inner side of the side wall; the support frame includes a support part, and multiple ribs that are connected to circumference of the support part; one end of the multiple ribs is connected to the support part, and the other end is connected to the inner side of the side wall; and the motor is fastened to the support part, and the rotor of the motor drives the multiple fan blades to rotate, where multiple through-holes are disposed on the side wall of the casing duct, and at least more than one of the multiple through-holes is a slant through-hole, a shape of a cross section of the through-hole is a circle; a diameter of the slant through-hole is 3 mm, and an allowable error range is ±20%.

An included angle θ between a tangent line or a tangent plane at which an inner wall or an outer wall of the side wall of the casing duct intersects with an axis of the slant through-hole, and the axis of the slant through-hole is an acute angle or an obtuse angle.

The fan further includes a sound absorption material filled in the multiple through-holes of the side wall of the casing duct.

According to a second aspect, the present invention further provides an embodiment of a communications device, where the communications device includes an air channel, an electronic circuit, and the fan according to the first aspect of the invention, where heat of an electronic device is taken away by flowing of airflow in the air channel; the fan is configured to promote the flowing of the airflow in the air channel.

In the following, the word "volute" refers to the casing duct. The foregoing technical solutions have the following advantages:When a fan works properly, there is airflow in a blade tip clearance that leaks from a high pressure surface to a low pressure surface, and a leakage of the airflow generates a leakage vortex, where the leakage vortex is one of noise sources of the fan. Airflow of the leakage vortex generated by the fan is alleviated by using multiple through-holes, particularly multiple slant through-holes, disposed on a casing duct/volute casing/volute. In this way, holes on the volute casing, particularly the slant through-holes can weaken the airflow of the leakage vortex, and therefore noise may be reduced.

In addition, noise reduction in a manner of disposing multiple through-holes, particularly multiple slant through-holes, on the volute casing does not require an increase in a volume of the fan. When the fan having a noise reduction function in the embodiments of the present invention is installed on a device, compared with another fan that does not have the noise reduction function, it is not required to increase additional accommodation space for the device, and particularly additional deep space of the device does not need to be occupied, thereby facilitating a compact layout of the device.

Moreover, the noise reduction manner provided in the embodiments of the present invention is to take a noise reduction measure at a position relatively close to a noise source. Because a distance closer to a sound source indicates more sound energy received and more remarkable reduction of sound energy, noise reduction efficiency is relatively high.

Furthermore, by using the noise reduction manner provided in the embodiments of the present invention, at the same time when noise is reduced, performance of the fan is not compromised and a heat dissipation capability of a system is not affected. In addition, by using the noise reduction manner provided in the embodiments of the present invention, an installation position of the fan does not need to be reconstructed. A new fan provided in the embodiments of the present invention can be used and installed in a device in which an existing fan can be used and installed, thereby facilitating replacement and upgrade of the fan.

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or in the prior art more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description show merely some embodiments of the present invention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.

• FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a front view of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention;
• FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a rear view of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention;
• FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a blade tip clearance of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention;
• FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are schematic diagrams of a slant degree of a slant through-hole of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention;FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a layout area of a through-hole of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention;FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a fan assembly of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention;FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are schematic diagrams of a sound absorption material of an embodiment of a fan according to the present invention; and FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a communications device according to the present invention.

The following clearly and completely describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a fan, where the fan includes a volute 1, a motor 3, and multiple fan blades 31 that are assembled on a rotor of the motor 3, where the volute 1 includes a side wall 11 that is disposed around circumference of the multiple fan blades 31, and a support frame 12 that is connected to an end of the side wall 11 and located on an inner side of the side wall 11; the support frame 12 includes a support part 121, and multiple ribs 122 that are connected to circumference of the support part 121; one end of the multiple ribs 122 is connected to the support part 121, and the other end is connected to the inner side of the side wall 11; and the motor 3 is fastened to the support part 121, and the rotor of the motor 3 drives the multiple fan blades 31 to rotate, where multiple through-holes 111 are disposed on the side wall 11 of the volute 1, and at least more than one of the multiple through-holes 111 is a slant through-hole.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, a clearance exists between the fan blade 31 and the inner side of the side wall 11 of the volute, and is referred to as a blade tip clearance. When the fan works properly, there is airflow in the blade tip clearance that leaks from a high pressure surface to a low pressure surface, and a leakage of the airflow generates a leakage vortex, where the leakage vortex is one of noise sources of the fan. Airflow of the leakage vortex generated by the fan is alleviated by using multiple through-holes, particularly multiple slant through-holes, disposed on the volute. In this way, holes on the volute, particularly the slant through-holes can weaken the airflow of the leakage vortex, and therefore noise may be reduced.

In addition, noise reduction in a manner of disposing multiple through-holes, particularly multiple slant through-holes, on the volute does not require an increase in a volume of the fan. When the fan having a noise reduction function in this embodiment of the present invention is installed on a device, compared with another fan that does not have the noise reduction function, it is not required to increase additional accommodation space for the device, and particularly additional deep space of the device does not need to be occupied, thereby facilitating a compact layout of the device.

Moreover, the noise reduction manner provided in this embodiment of the present invention is to take a noise reduction measure at a position relatively close to a noise source. Because a distance closer to a sound source indicates more sound energy received and more remarkable reduction of sound energy, noise reduction efficiency is relatively high.

Furthermore, by using the noise reduction manner provided in this embodiment of the present invention, at the same time when noise is reduced, performance of the fan is not compromised and a heat dissipation capability of a system is not affected. In addition, by using the noise reduction manner provided in this embodiment of the present invention, an installation position of the fan does not need to be reconstructed. A new fan provided in the embodiments of the present invention can be used and installed in a device in which an existing fan can be used and installed, thereby facilitating replacement and upgrade of the fan.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, an included angle Φ between a tangent plane or a tangent line at which an inner wall or an outer wall of the side wall of the volute intersects with an inner wall of the slant through-hole, and the inner wall of the slant through-hole is an acute angle or an obtuse angle; in any case, an included angle θ between a tangent line or a tangent plane at which an inner wall or an outer wall of the side wall of the volute intersects with an axis of the slant through-hole, and the axis of the slant through-hole is an acute angle or an obtuse angle.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the included angle θ may be less than or equal to 85 degrees, or the included angle θ may be greater than or equal to 95 degrees.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the included angle Φ may be less than or equal to 85 degrees, or the included angle Φ may be greater than or equal to 95 degrees.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, axes of at least some slant through-holes of the multiple slant through-holes are parallel.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, an area that has the through-holes 111 and that is of the side wall 11 of the volute includes a ribbon area A of the side wall 11 of the volute, where as a position continuously changes in a process of rotation of the multiple fan blades 31, a total area that all projections projected on the side wall 11 of the volute occupy on the side wall 11 of the volute is the ribbon area A.

Further, the area that has the through-holes 111 and that is of the side wall 11 of the volute may further include ribbon areas that are located on two sides of the ribbon area A and occupy a width of L/2 in a height direction of the side wall 11 of the volute, where a width occupied in the height direction of the side wall 11 of the volute by the area A is L.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, a diameter of a through-hole that is not a "slant through-hole" may be less than or equal to 3 mm, and an allowable error range may be ±20%.

Further, according to the present invention, a diameter of each slant through-hole is equal to 3 mm, and an allowable error range may be ±20%.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, among the multiple through-holes, diameters of the multiple slant through-holes may be different from diameters of other through-holes.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, a shape of a cross section of each through-hole is a circle.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, a quantity of slant through-holes disposed on the volute accounts for at least 20% of a total quantity of the disposed through-holes.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, slant directions of the multiple slant through-holes may be the same or may be different.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, included angles θ of the multiple slant through-holes may be the same or may be different.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, included angles Φ of the multiple slant through-holes may be the same or may be different.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, when the rotor of the motor drives the multiple fan blades to rotate, a rotation axis of the multiple fan blades is parallel with the side wall of the volute.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, an outer rim of a cross section of the side wall of the volute is a circle or an equilateral regular polygon.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the volute 1 further includes two flanges 5, where the two flanges 5 are separately located at two ends of the side wall 11 of the volute 1, and separately extend from outer sides of the two ends of the side wall 11. In addition, the flanges 5 and end faces of the two ends of the side wall 11 are parallel with each other or located on a same plane, and outer rims of cross sections of the flanges 5 are rectangular.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the fan may further include a fan assembly 6. Referring to FIG. 2 as well, the fan assembly 6 is located on an outer side of the volute 1, and the volute 1 is installed inside the fan assembly 6 by using the flanges 5.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, the fan provided in this embodiment of the present invention may further include a sound absorption material 7. Referring to FIG. 2 as well, the sound absorption material 7 is coated on an outer side of the side wall 11 of the volute 1. Noise generated by the fan may be evenly radiated outward from the volute of the fan by using the through-holes, particularly the slant through-holes, disposed on the volute. In a propagation process, a part of noise is absorbed by the sound absorption material 7. In this way, noise at an air intake vent and air exhaust vent of the fan may be weakened. In addition, the sound absorption material 7 may also plug up the through-holes of the side wall of the volute, so that performance of the fan is not affected because fan pressure is leaked by holes disposed on the volute.

Further, according to the present invention, the sound absorption material filled in the multiple through-holes of the side wall of the volute.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the sound absorption material may be a sound absorption sponge, a foam material, or the like.

The fan in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention may be various fans such as an axial flow fan, a centrifugal fan, a mixed flow fan, or cross-flow fan.

As shown in FIG. 10, FIG. 1, and FIG. 2, the present invention further provides an embodiment of a communications device, where the communications device includes an air channel 8, an electronic circuit 9, and a fan 10 according to claim 1, where heat of the electronic device is taken away by flowing of airflow (the arrows in the diagram are used to indicate a direction of the airflow) in the air channel 8; the fan 10 is configured to promote the flowing of the airflow in the air channel 8, and the fan 10 includes a volute 1, a motor 3, and multiple fan blades 31 that are assembled on a rotor of the motor 3, where the volute 1 includes a side wall 11 that is disposed around circumference of the multiple fan blades 31, and a support frame 12 that is connected to an end of the side wall 11 and located on an inner side of the side wall 11; the support frame 12 includes a support part 121, and multiple ribs 122 that are connected to circumference of the support part 121; one end of the multiple ribs 122 is connected to the support part 121, and the other end is connected to the inner side of the side wall 11; and the motor 3 is fastened to the support part 121, and the rotor of the motor 3 drives the multiple fan blades 31 to rotate, where multiple through-holes 111 are disposed on the side wall 11 of the volute 1, and at least more than one of the multiple through-holes 111 is a slant through-hole.

Further, in the foregoing embodiment of the communications device in the present invention, the fan 10 may be disposed at an air intake vent or an air exhaust vent of the air channel 8, or disposed inside the air channel 8.

The communications device in the embodiment of the communications device provided in the present invention may be a device such as a router, or a data center, or a switch, or a server.